SEBI officials grill Sanjay Gupta, Shivraj Puri in Citibank scam

Hero Group says it has identified two more employees who might be involved in scam Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) officials on Wednesday questioned Citibank's Relationship Manager Shivraj Puri and Hero Corporate Service's former Associate Vice-President (Accounts) Sanjay Gupta in connection with the Rs. 300-crore fraud case in the Gurgaon branch of the bank. The Hero Corporate Service said it had identified two more accounts department employees who might be possibly involved in the scam. Sources said the officials also met Gurgaon Police Commissioner S.S. Deswal and his team investigating the fraud and discussed the case. Meanwhile, the Hero Group said following an initial internal enquiry, two employees have been sent on leave with immediate effect by the company. “This is in addition to the suspension of Mr. Gupta by the company. Further appropriate action will be taken after the final outcome of the enquiry,” a company statement said. In another related development, Gurgaon Police said as of now, there was no possibility of questioning Citibank's Global CEO Vikram Pandit and other top honchos in connection with the fraud. “At this point of time the possibility of involvement of the Global CEO and India head looks remote,” Gurgaon Police Commissioner S.S. Deswal told journalists here. Local staff to be questioned However, Gurgaon Police will question the local staff of the Gurgaon Citibank branch in connection with the First Information Report (FIR) filed by a high net-worth individual (HNI) and Managing Director of Helion Advisers Sanjeev Aggarwal who lost Rs. 32.430000000 in the fraud case. “We are examining the details provided in the complaint as well as by the bank,” Mr. Deswal said. In his FIR, Mr. Aggarwal alleged criminal breach of trust, falsification of accounts, cheating and criminal conspiracy by the officials of the Citibank. He had named senior Citibank functionaries. The main accused in the high-profile case, Mr. Puri, used to collect funds from HNIs and corporates by allegedly showing a forged notification of SEBI. He allegedly lured them into investments promising unusually high returns.